INDIA, CIRCA 1600

This cabinet is a very rare example from the small surviving corpus of Mughal lacquer wares. The closest comparable to the lively figural scenes set on a dark ground with floral decoration found on the front of this cabinet is a book cover which sold in these Rooms, 23 October 2007, lot 345 (published Ludwig V. Habighorst, Moghul Ragamala, Koblenz, 2006, p.58, fig.19). The book cover had been attached to a Ragamala manuscript which was dateable to 1600-1625. The turban style worn by the male figures depicted on our cabinet are typical of the Akbar period, helping to date the cabinet similarly to the book cover. The depiction of Hindu subjects, as found on the present cabinet, was also common in the Akbar period. The expression and pose of the yogi seated on a tiger skin in the panel in the second row on the far right is quite closely comparable to a drawing of a Vitahavya yogi in meditation from a Yog Vashisht manuscript which was completed in 1602 (Linda York Leach, Mughal and other Indian Paintings from the Chester Beatty Library, vol.I, London, 1995, p.181, cat.2.28).

A fall-front cabinet in the Victoria & Albert Museum has painted lacquer sides which depict figures in European hats out hunting, which relates to the figure hunting a crocodile found on our cabinet (Amin Jaffer, Luxury Goods From India. The Art of the Indian Cabinet-Maker, London, 2002, no.6, p.26). The Victoria & Albert Museum cabinet is dated by Amin Jaffer to the early 17th century but the source for the European figures was probably a result of the earlier Jesuit missions of the 1580s and 1590s.

Many surviving works of lacquer have had additional layers of varnish applied to the surface over time which gradually darken the overall impression of the decoration and tend to make the figures appear less distinct against the dark background. This is not the case on our cabinet in which the white pigment which is most visible as the skin-tone of the figures remains strong. It may be that our cabinet has been cleaned of old layers of lacquer. In particular the scene of the courtesans dancing for the prince in the panel on the upper left hand corner makes full use of this contrast. A slightly later and smaller Mughal lacquer casket which is dated to the early 17th century is in the Ashmolean Museum has a similar propensity for lively hunting scenes as our cabinet (The Indian Heritage, Court Life under the Mughal Rule, exhibition catalogue, Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 1982, p.161, cat.544). A Mughal lacquer box from the same period was sold in these Rooms, 6 October 2011, lot 379.